The group identified self-driving cars, IBM's supercomputer Watson, Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and even Google Now as examples of technological advancements that might not have been thought out properly.

While they concede that the creation of AI can represent one of the most impressive achievements in the history of mankind, they believe it could also lead down a very dangerous path.

"The potential benefits are huge," they write. "Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last."

We're not yet able to develop computers more powerful than the human brain, but it looks likely to happen within the coming years. What's more, Hawking and co reckon that it wll only be a matter of time before AI starts improving itself, and that's when humans will lose all control of the situation.